Pope Alexander VII

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Fabio Chigi, born atSienna, 13 February, 1599; elected 7 April, 1655; died atRome, 22 May, 1667. The Chigi ofSienna were among the most illustrious and powerful ofItalianfamilies. In theRome ofRenaissance times, an ancestor of Alexander VII was known as the "Magnificent". The future Pope's father, Flavio Chigi, nephew ofPope Paul V, though not as prosperous as his forebears, gave his son a suitable training. The latter owed much also to his mother, awoman of singular power and skill in the formation of youth. The youth of Fabio was marked by continued ill-health, consequent upon an attack of apoplexy in infancy. Unable to attendschool, he was taught first by his mother, and later by able tutors, and displayed remarkable precocity andlove of reading. In his twenty-seventh year, he obtained the doctorates ofphilosophy,law, andtheology in the University of Sienna, and in December, 1626, he entered upon hisecclesiastical career atRome. In 1627 he was appointed byUrban VIII Vice-Legate ofFerrara, and he served five years under the Cardinals Sacchetti and Pallotta, whose commendations won for him the important post of Inquisitor of Malta, together with the episcopalconsecration. In 1639 he was promoted to the nunciature of Cologne; and in 1644 was made envoy extraordinary ofInnocent X to the conference of Münster, in which post he energetically defendedpapal interests during the negotiations that led, in 1648, to the Peace ofWestphalia. (SeeTHIRTY-YEARS WAR.)Innocent X called him toRome in 1651 to be his secretary of state, and in February, 1652, made himCardinal. In theconclave of 1655, famous for its duration of eighty days, and for the clash of national and factional interests, Cardinal Chigi was unanimously elected Pope. The choice was considered providential. At a time whenchurchmen were being forced to realize the deplorable consequences, moral and financial, of nepotism, there was needed apope who would rule without the aid of relatives. For a year the hopes ofChristendom seemed to be realized. Alexander forbade his relatives to come toRome. His ownsanctity of life, severity ofmorals, and aversion to luxury made more resplendent his virtues and talents. But in the consistory of 24 April, 1656, influenced by those who feared the weakness of apapal court unsustained by ties offamily interest, he proposed to bring his brother and nephews to assist him. With their advent came a marked change in the manner of life of the pontiff. The administration was given largely into the hands of his relatives, and nepotic abuses came to weigh as heavily as ever upon thepapacy. The endeavours of the Chigi to enrich theirfamily were too indulgently regarded by the Pope; but, everpious and devout, he was far from having a share in the excesses of his luxury-loving nephews. His burden being in this way lightened, he passed much of his time in literary pursuits and in thesociety of the learned; but the friends whom he favoured were those who could be best relied on as counsellors.

The pontificate of Alexander VII was shadowed by continual difficulties with the young and ill-advisedLouis XIV of France, whose representatives were a constant source of annoyance to thePope. The French prime minister,Cardinal Mazarin, had not forgiven thelegate who resolutely opposed him at the conferences of Munster and Osnabrück, or thepapal secretary of state who stood in the way of his anti-Roman policy. During theconclave he had been bitterly hostile to Chigi, but was in the end compelled to accept his election as a compromise. However, he preventedLouis XIV from sending the usual embassy of obedience to Alexander VII, and, while he lived, hindered the appointment of a French ambassador toRome, diplomatic affairs being meantime conducted by cardinal protectors, generally personal enemies of thePope. In 1662 the equally hostile Duc de Crequi was made ambassador. By his high-handed abuse of the traditional right of asylum granted to ambassadorial precincts inRome, he precipitated a quarrel betweenFrance and thepapacy, which resulted in the Pope's temporary loss ofAvignon and his forced acceptance of the humiliating treaty ofPisa in 1664. (SeeLOUIS XIV.) Emboldened by these triumphs, theFrench Jansenists, who recognized in Alexander an old enemy, became insolently assertive, professing that the propositions condemned in 1653 were not to be found in the "Augustinus" ofCornelius Jansen. (SeeJANSENIUS.) Alexander VII, who as adviser ofInnocent X had vigorously advocated the condemnation, confirmed it in 1665 by theBull "Ad Sacram" declaring that it applied to the aforesaid work of Jansen and to the very meaning intended by him; he also sent toFrance his famous "formulary", to be signed by all theclergy as a means of detecting and extirpatingJansenism. His reign is memorable in the annals ofmoral theology for the condemnation of a number oferroneous propositions.Cardinal Hergenröther praises (Kirchengesch. III,414) his moderation in the heated dogmatic controversies of the period. During his reign occurred the conversion of Queen Christina of Sweden, who, after her abdication, came to reside inRome, where onChristmas Day, 1655, she was confirmed by thePope, in whom she found a generous friend and benefactor. He assisted theVenetians in combating theTurks who had gained a foothold in Crete, and obtained in return the restoration of theJesuits, exiled fromVenice since 1606. (See SARPI,VENICE.) The inimical relations betweenSpain andPortugal occasioned by the latter's establishment of independence (1640) were a source of grave trials for Alexander, as for otherpopes before and after him. Alexander VII did much to beautifyRome. Houses were levelled to make way for straighter streets and broad piazzas, the Collegio Romano. The decorations of the church of Sta. Maria del Popolo, titular church of more than one of the Chigicardinals, the Scala Regia, the Chair of St. Peter in theVatican Basilica, and the greatcolonnade before that edifice bespeak alike the genius ofBernini and the munificence of hispapal patron. He was also a patron of learning, modernized the Roman University, known as Sapienza, and enriched it with a magnificentlibrary. He also made extensive additions to the Vatican Library. Histomb byBernini is one of the most beautiful monuments inSt. Peter's.

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